ILS-cover story

A bad man rarely gets rewards. But Gulshan Grover keeps getting them. After all, he is a bad man par excellence. And the only one in Hindi cinema who keeps experimenting with roles, genres, and with cinema of every kind.

India, the United States, England, France, Italy the countries just keep piling up on his resume. At any given time, GG, as he?s referred to, has his hands full of work on a kaleidoscopic canvas of Indian and foreign cinema. Despite being an international star, GG never forgets his roots and is a believer in the invincibility of Indian cinema.

I have not only exploded the myth that you don’t have to pack your bags here before you can work regularly in Hollywood or anywhere overseas, I am also proud of the fact that I have made foreign filmmakers change their perspective about Indian actors, their talent and their professional conduct. After hearing horror stories about how stars behaved here, my earliest directors had a lot of initial apprehensions about casting me, which took some time to disappear even after I began working with them!”

Indian Life & Style interviewed Gulshan Grover at his duplex apartment in a building named Woodstock. His apartment is devoid of wood - GG has an aversion to it and his residence is an amalgam of metal, marble and granite. It’s a cool haven for the actor who faced the camera for the first time 25 years ago and is still in peak fettle.

There is only one hitch in the Gulshan pitch - the man decides always to steer the course of conversation and the subjects to be covered. I feel like an actor being directed by a craftsman who knows exactly what he wants out of me. And then I too remember that in Hindi films, actors do ‘creatively interfere’ in the director’s work, so I step in on occasion. After all, to put it in Hindi film parlance, “It’s all in the interest of the final product!”

Excerpts from the interview:
Hi, Gulshan. There are news reports that you have clinched a role in a Bond film.

All I will say now is that I have been approached for a major role in a film that I cannot talk about right away, and that if I do get it, I will make India proud!

Isn’t India proud already of one of its very few international stars who works regularly, and not just sporadically, in foreign films?

GG: Well, I have managed to keep the films rolling in on both sides of the globe. But I do not think that there has ever been a period when I have not been busy in Hindi films. And I think that the best phase back home is now, because of the great variety of roles that I have done in recent times, some of which could be even called leading roles.

Like “Souten - The Other Woman”?

GG: Yeah, I have almost completed work on “Souten.” The film is not at all like the earlier Saawan Kumar film that starred Rajesh Khanna. I play a rich aristocrat who is a loving husband to Mahima Chaudhari. The souten here does not apply to me and has a completely different connotation, as my wife becomes a kind of souten for another woman, and I am so much in love with her. It’s an interesting story and it shows how relationships can be redefined.

Is the Bad Man slowly going to be passé, Gulshan?

GG: No, of course not. There is Nitin Manmohan’s “Dus” directed by Anubhav Sinha, in which the “Tum Bin” director has sprung a surprise – after directing romantic films he has made an excellent actioner with a multi-star cast comprising of Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan, Zayed Khan, Esha Deol, Dia Mirza and Raima Sen. This role is in the typical bad man brand, with a heavy get-up, as I am the central villain. And then there is Rajkumar Santoshi’s “Family” in which I am Babubhai Bichhoo, so named because he is a slimy, dangerous man who silently stings just like a scorpion does.

Where else shall we see the different Gulshan?

GG: Well, in almost all my other Hindi forthcoming films, I am etching different roles. Like in “Tathaastu,” Anubhav makes a departure again – the film is a different and intimate look at a family and stars Sanjay Dutt, Jaya Prada and Amisha Patel in key roles. And I play this good cop, who however frowns upon Sanjay because he is unwittingly responsible for a law disorder in his area. My ‘funda’ is “Shoot the b**d and set an example!” though Sanjay causes this purely because of the severe emotional stress that he is going through.

That’s interesting, because off-screen, you and Sanjay go back a long way.

Absolutely. Sanju and I share a special bond, because we were both launched together in “Rocky” 25 years back. The first shot canned for the film was our career-first shot, and it was a scene between just him and me. Of course, my “Hum Paanch” was released before it in 1981. Which by itself was very strange, if you know that I was one of his acting teachers in Roshan Taneja’s Actors’ Studio!

What’s the scene regarding your older assignments like “Eight” and the crossover film “My Bollywood Bride”?

Both the films are ready. In “Eight” I play Padmini Kolhapure’s husband. The film also stars Raaj Kumar’s daughter Vaastavika and is an interesting subject set in the UK. Karan Razdan directs the film. “My Bollywood Bride” stars Kashmira Shah, Jason Lewis, the TV stud of “Sex and the City” fame, and me – and I am Kashmira’s fiancé. There is some kind of technical delay there since the film is being made for both Indian and international audiences.

Which are the other films in which we can hope to see you?

One of my most interesting projects is “The Hangman,” an English film that costars Om Puri. Though we both had important roles in Priyadarsan’s “Hera Pheri,” we had never shared a scene, and so it is the first time ever that I am working with Om-ji. This is a film produced by a New Jersey-based company and is being directed by a Pune-based guy named Vishal Bhandare, whose first film, a short film named “Pocketful Of Dreams,” was much-awarded.

And are you the hangman, Gulshan?

Laughs) No, I am not. I play a next generation jailor with very progressive ideas and he is a convict serving a life term. I have A a daughter, and he too has a son. We share a special bond as the story spans 25 years, and I am a compassionate, caring and concerned officer.

What has happened to the short film that you were doing?

That’s ready too. Earlier titled differently, it is now called “An Ode to Lost Love” and stars Masumeh. It is directed by veteran cinematographer Madhu Ambat and is a beautiful love story of a filmmaker, his heroine and his best friend – the cinematographer. Atul Kulkarni plays the cinematographer. It
is a very fresh love triangle.

As a villain you are heavily into get-ups, make-ups and stylized characterizations,and of course all those catch phrases. Do
these things really help in essaying a charac-
ter?

They do, and the masses love them! But I only do these things when strictly needed. Take a film like “Jism,” which had me play a very smart and successful personality without any get-up whatsoever. It all depends on my character. And I have never been only a villain, right from the beginning. I played a positive role and was one of the five title players in “Hum Paanch.” I have played positive roles in innumerable films, like “Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat,” “Jism” and “Taarzan,” in which I played a cop who also had a catchphrase. My fans love and expect such things from me.

And even as a villain I have never done stereotypes – I have inculcated emotions, comedy and even sung a dance number in “Avtaar.”

And how are things going abroad?

I have just completed a 15-minute experimental film called “Little White Lie,” directed by NRI fashion photographer Ash Gupta for producer Michael Hirshenson. Shot in downtown Los Angeles, it is a story of compassion told by the medium of still photographs shot in a special digital sequence. Ria Fe, a top model and actress, and actor-writer Maximillian Xavier are the others in the cast. There are talks on for more films. Out there, things are done differently as you are aware.

But you have always tended to talk overwhelmingly about your work, your roles and films. As a consequence, very little seems to be known about Gulshan Grover the man, the person. So let’s get to know a few things outside work. Is that okay?

That’s okay with me!

Since we are having lunch, tell me, do you believe in fitness, food restrictions and all that jazz?

As you can see, I eat healthy food, that’s all. There is no rigidity or pledge taken about eating meat or fish, but as of now I am a vegetarian by choice, though I do eat eggs. I only avoid oily and greasy stuff and, of course, shun junk food of every kind.

As for fitness, I spend one hour daily in the swimming pool, which is right here in my residential society, an hour each of tennis and working out in the health club, again a part of this building. And whenever I visit USA, I do yoga as well.

Why only in the USA? Why not over here?

Because I love Bikram Yoga, the brand that my friend Bikram has devised over there. You go through 16 successive asanas rapidly in one hour at a controlled temperature of 80 degrees. There are certain do’s and don’ts that you have to follow. You come out a different man after each session.

And are you religious or spiritually inclined?

Well, I do believe that there are thousands of things in life that you cannot explain, that defy the logic that A and B together should always be A+B. There is some power that changes these equations. That same energy also guides and protects you from doing wrong to others and disallowing wrongs done to you. So if someone snubs you, it does not disturb you because there is a
power higher than the highest power that you can think of, or know about, on earth.

I look upon this power - as someone who can be called God – as a friend, and I converse or communicate the way I would with a buddy. I believe in being grateful to him, and not in blaming him for the things that go wrong, which are largely due to factors which we could have controlled. My parents live with me, and I do pay my respects to this power at the small mandir my mom has in the house. But it’s not as if it is a daily or time-bound compulsion.

The Indian media has gone ballistic over your affair – and then your split with Diana Hayden.

I have never commented on the split, and whatever has been said has come from Diana or the scribes themselves. I have no wish to talk about this closed chapter of my life, except to say that professionally as well as personally, this was the worstever chapter of my life!

You have had other relationships too.
Yes, relationships with the fairer sex help keep a man’s ego intact, and his liking for fitness and looks in full fettle. If there is a woman in your life, older, younger or of your age, you want to keep looking good, which helps professionally as well!

How does your son, who is now a grown-up, react to all this?

Well, we are buddies and know everything about each other – he is comfortable about these things. There is certainly no problem there.

And are you going to be an equally liberal father?

No, I can be quite a conservative village dad on occasion – and a modern young father too. I am both in turns!

Does your son nurture any acting ambitions?

Luckily not, because it will be the saddest day of my life if he joins films! I even turned down an offer in a George Clooney film where they wanted us to play father and son. I told them that I am game, but he will not do the film!

But that’s quite strange. Why do you have this aversion to his working in films?

Well, he is studying for his MBA, enjoying his spare time doing all that kids of his age do today. Let him become mature and then if he wants to do films, we can think about it!